The newest fraternity on campus, AEPi, presents AEPiety, a party that will go down on Friday February 5th at Eclectic with DJs Bastille and Procrastination. Tickets will be $1.00 ahead of time and $2.00 at the door. A quarter of the Proceeds will go to aiding the crisis in Haiti

We all know that cute blonde girl behind the Kosher counter at Usdan, who until recently served us our burritos (without cheese) and other food with a smile. Some take the time to make flirtatious small talk with her (which she politely ignores), but Freshman David Nam (’13) decided to take it to the next level and write her a love poem.

Keep at it Cassanova, girls love this kind of stuff. Maybe you can grow up to be like this guy:

As Sahm noted, David Goldman ’12 of the WSA sent out a mass email notifying the student body that the administration consciously broke a previously established agreement between the WSA and Fire Safety that inspections (known to some as thinly veiled drug raids) would only happen during a specified “Fire Safety Awareness Month.” This agreement was made to protect student privacy, and was a benchmark in ongoing negotiations with Fire Safety.

Here’s a little history for those (Freshmen) who don’t know:

Fire Safety has had a long and contentious relationship with the Wesleyan student body. Inspections in previous years have resulted in arrests when marijuana was found in the rooms of a few students. Also check out the Argus article on the arrest in 2007. Students have also protested the harsh penalties that used to be charged for minor infractions (My roommate and I were charged $100 my freshman year because we left a stick of incense in the room), especially since the money was being used in ways that didn’t seem to make sense. The most notable was a proposal during the spring of 2007 to construct a model dorm on Foss Hill and then burn it down, either as a scare tactic or to show students how fire works. Check it out. Although Fire Safety seriously considered this, it never happened as the result of student protest and public shaming. Another project, which was actually carried out, was the donation of many of the items confiscated from student dorms for being fire safety risks to families in Portland (across the river) who had just lost their homes to fire. (I find it hard to believe that I was the only one to see the irony in this, but there was little discussion of the matter.)

Midway through last semester, the Argus announced that Fire Safety said that they had completed their inspections for the year. In a move that was either a simple reversal of the administration’s word or an honest remedy of a miscommunication between the administration and the Argus Fire Safety sent out a campus wide email refuting the Argus’ claim. Check out the our post on it here.

After this controversy, the WSA worked with administrators to reach the recently violated agreement. Now, just when we thought a somewhat acceptable compromise had been reached, we get this.

Right: Students look on in horror as an administrator, clad in camo and a helmet for fire safety reasons, literally cuts up the agreement with the Student Body using a power saw.

Ezra Silk ’10 was inspired by our earlier post about Michael Roth’s salary to do a little digging through other people’s tax returns and provide us with some interesting research on faculty compensation. Thanks Ezra. Check out his article in the Blargus. Highlights include:

Thomas Kannam, VP & Chief Investment Officer: $460, 610

Barbara Jan Wilson, VP President for University Relations: $260, 334

John Meerts, VP for Finance and Administration: $240, 060

Jeanine Basinger, Chair of the Film Studies Department: $213,420

Many of those who commented on our earlier post bemoaned the fact that many of our program budgets have been cut while our president is paid so much money. Just to clarify the discussion, we are working on compiling a list of the programs whose budgets have been cut. (Any help in this effort would be appreciated.)

The Chronicle of Higher Education just released the 2009 survey results for executive pay at Private Universities. The information from this survey is interesting, especially considering the financial climate and Wesleyan’s current discussion among the faculty, WSA, and in three weeks the Board of Trustees, to find ways to cut Wesleyan’s budget. To put the numbers in perspective some of the cuts articulated in the WSA’s recent survey included cuts to the WESU and Green Street subsidies valued at $50,000 and $215,000 over a five year period. The difference in President Roth’s salary and that of President Owen (Williams), is approximately $110,000 per year.

“The median pay for those reviewed, which was $358,746, increased 6.5 percent from the 2006-7 fiscal year. Presidents at research universities fared even better, with a median of $627,750, an increase of 15.5 percent.” Still, of the 414 institutions in the survey over 100 had presidents earning upwards of $600,000. The article goes on to say that “the increase in salaries can partially be attributed to the trustees who set the president’s compensation and come to the table with corporate backgrounds.”

In a time where budget cuts are the norm and salary caps are being proposed for executives in the business world, should our president receive such a large salary? How does one determine how much a school president is worth, and who has the authority to do so?

If you’d like to join the likes of these fine gentlemen, you’re in luck: Wesleyan’s rowing team is opening its doors to new recruits. Rowing is a great team sport, gives you a good workout, and is one of the few sports that you can start in college and excel at. Wesleyan has had numerous athletes begin their careers as novice freshmen, and go on to to national team glory, including one Olympic gold medalist and one world champion!

The rowing team is holding an informational meeting tonight in the Freeman Athletic Center classroom at 6:30. All genders and classes are welcome. For any additional information, or if you are interested but cannot make the meeting, send an email to jwatson01@wesleyan.edu.

As you know from an earlier post, a Southwestern/American Bistro called “The Cardinal’s Nest” is moving into the building where Café-Ology used to be. The new owner has been working on the place all summer, and it is finally coming together. Here is what it looks like now:

Here is a picture of a pirate that I assume will be a permanent prop in the establishment and may be used to scare away the bad luck that put Café-Ology out of business after only one year.

The owner, John Gecewicz, is returning to Middletown after a successful career as an international model. He was featured in GQ and Vogue, and seems to have been pretty successful. Here’s a photo of him, courtesy of the article in The Middletown Press. What do you think, Wes? Hot or not?

After he finished modeling, Mr. Gecewicz started his own café and catering business in New York, although not much about this can be found online. Hopefully, this means that we can expect some quality food out of the place. For those of you who are wondering, you will be able to buy beer, wine and sangria at Cardinal’s Nest. The place will also be open for late night dining, although it is unclear whether it will be open as late as Mamoun’s.